Former baseball coach guilty of sexually abusing boys

CONCORD — A Manchester man who was a baseball coach was found guilty Friday in U.S. District Court of sexually abusing boys and videotaping the abuse, according to a release from John Kacavas, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire.

Robert Joubert, 60, of Manchester, was found guilty on three counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of child pornography following a three-day trial.

An investigation led by police in Concord and York, Maine, began in 2012 after York police received an email warning them that Joubert, a youth baseball coach, had a history of inappropriate contact with children.

According to affidavits in the case, one man interviewed by police said Joubert abused him in 1984 and 1986. In another case, according to affidavits, Joubert offered to buy a boy a new baseball glove in exchange for sexual favors and, though the boy complied, Joubert never purchased the new glove.

Another boy was molested in 2012, according to the release, and Joubert videotaped the encounter without the boy knowing.

"This defendant is a quintessential predator," Kacavas said in a statement. "He deliberately sought out and insinuated himself into the lives of the most vulnerable young boys, gaining their trust by portraying himself as a coach and father figure. He then betrayed that trust by sexually exploiting those boys to produce child pornography. Identifying, finding, and prosecuting predators like the defendant has been, and will continue to be, among the highest priorities of my office."

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